Theresa May comes to town on eve of election

b12-1270 Home secretary Theresa May visited Bedford to show support for Jas Parmar in the up and coming police elections.

Home Secretary Theresa May visited Bedford on Wednesday ahead of today’s vote to elect an new police chief for Bedfordshire.

She was there to support Jas Parmer, the Conservative candidate for the role of Police and Crime Commissioner.

Mrs May visited the route of the Queens Park faith tour, stopping off at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Ford End Road and the Jameh Masjid Gulshan-e-Baghdad Mosque and All Saints Church in Westbourne Road.

She also met members of the Queens Park community, and MP for Bedford and Kempston Richard Fuller, as part of the visit and learned about schemes in the area which make the most of Queens Park’s multicultural society.

She said: “I think that it is right that we have a diversity of people. Jas brings a wealth of experience to the role.

“What I think is that I trust the people, I think people will look to see who is best for the role.”

Police and Crime Commissioner elections are taking place across the country today, the role will replace police authorities and put an elected individual in charge of ensuring efficient and effective policing in their county.

The role has been criticised and low voter turn out has been predicted by some, but the Home Secretary declined to give a target on turn out for Bedfordshire.

She said: “I’m not going to speculate on turn out, but I would encourage people to go out and vote.”

The Home Secretary also dismissed the chances of British Freedom Party candidate Kevin Carroll claiming that she trusts the electorate to make the right decision.

There are five candidates in the running to become Bedfordshire’s first Police and Crime Commissioner.

They are Kevin Carroll of the British Freedom Party, Mezanur Rashid, Independent, Linda Jack, Liberal Democrat, Olly Martins of the Labour Party and Jas Parmer of the Conservative Party.

We have video profiled all of the five candidates so why not visit www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/video before you head to the polling station today?

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